We’re about to switch things up in this male populated street culture. The BaeWatch Series is a new segment to showcase today’s strong, empowered women embracing the street culture. We’ll introduce weekly favourite babes in the game on their thoughts on the industry and passion for all street related things. Show your support to the familiar girls featured, some may be new faces but we predict that the girl gang is rising and they’ll all be household names in the near future. In the spirit of this female driven series, these girls are doing it on their own terms. Get to know our first addition on this series is Atira Ariffin, from Kuala Lumpur with an Instagram feed that is filled with pure guilty pleasures of sneakers and streetwear, it’s no doubt she has a massive following of 40k followers.
Tell us about yourself and what are you currently up to these days.
“I’m Atira Ariffyn, I just moved to Amsterdam at the end of last year after living in London for five years where I completed my studies at the Architectural Association. I’m currently working as a junior architectural designer at UNStudio. I am mostly occupied with work these days but I’ve also been invited to exhibit my personal project : ‘Unveiling Pyongyang’ photography documentary for Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival 2017 (KLAF17) which just ended and the upcoming one for Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 as part of Pyongyang Pavilion. So in the recent weeks I’ve been quite busy juggling between my professional work and editing photos and preparing contents for both of the exhibitions.”
Besides work, what do you in your free time?
“I used to paint a lot during my student days but I’ve been extremely busy with work and other stuffs. I really miss being able to relax and paint my heart out so I’m hoping to find some free time and get back to my paintings soon. Other than that I enjoy photographing on weekends or indulge myself in a good book. Oh I also love to cook!”
How did you start your sneaker obsession?
“I’ve always loved trainers. As a child, I grew up inclined towards the tomboy side. My earliest memory of this fascination towards trainers was in the mid-1990s, I was probably 5 or 6 years old when my dad bought me a pair of boy’s shoes with blinking red lights. Cheesy I know but I wore it all the time!
“I used to shop at boy’s clothing department, I wore baggie pants and oversized shirts (during the peak of hiphop era in early 2000s) and even when I had to wear baju kurung on certain occasions I used to pair it with a converse.”
Mind you it’s not fashionable at all and I actually looked horrendous back then. I think I’ve burned all of my old photos from my tomboy days *laughs* Anyway, I started to get a bit serious in collecting trainers when I moved to London as they’re easily accessible and my obsession was amplified when I started dating my boyfriend in 2014 as he shares the same obsession and he has taught me a lot about the ‘game’. It was the love for trainers that brought us together at the first place.”
How many sneakers do you own? Do you sell your sneaker collection?
“Well to be honest, I don’t own that much as I only buy what I like or whatever that fits my style. I have approximately 50 pairs. I don’t sell my sneakers. I’m emotionally attached to all of them.”
What is your favourite sneakers?
Vans Old Skool.
Describe your fashion style.
“I love minimal design with clean cut, layers, or oversized outerwear paired with one or two streetwear items like a cap or a pair of trainers. I tend to avoid drawing too much attention to myself therefore my wardrobe’s colour palette are very muted, dark and subtle (I honestly think that I have way too much grey outfits). Also, I often borrow my boyfriend’s clothes like jackets, crewnecks, and t-shirts.”
What are your favourite streetwear brands?
“Gosha Rubchinskiy, COS (not exactly streetwear brand but I love their minimal designs), Acne Studios, Yohji Yamamoto, Common Projects, Comme Des Garçons, MKI Miyuki-Zoku, Ontour (a Dutch brand I discovered after I moved to Amsterdam). As for Palace and Supreme, it depends on the individual pieces. Some designs are nice, some are just too ‘loud’ for my liking. But I generally like almost all of Palace x Adidas collaborations, they’ve done an amazing job in producing really good designs. As for local brands, I really like Futuremade Studio and Against Lab.”
What do you think about the male dominated street culture?
“Honestly I personally feel that it doesn’t really matter whether the scene is dominated by male or female as it doesn’t make any difference to me. People should feel comfortable wearing whatever they like regardless of the majority and I don’t see why is it necessary to highlight the gender differences. Your personal style is your own choice and should not be defined by gender stereotypes.”
“I work in a male dominated field where I have to constantly deal with male architects, engineers, suppliers, consultants, contractors, and many others on daily basis and it never bothered me at all, so similar perspective is applied towards my view in street culture. Well of course in the context of street culture there will always be a small number of males who dislike the idea of female donning the streetwear brands, but hey, they’re entitled to their own opinions and so are we. I think it’s cool that more girls are embracing the street culture now!”
How do you find the street culture in Malaysia compared to abroad?
“This is a very broad topic to dissect and I’m afraid that I don’t have enough knowledge on the Malaysian scene to make a judgement. But I guess based on my own observation on social media and words of mouths from friends, I can see that the culture is growing exponentially since the past couple of years. There has been a lot of fresh and new local homegrown brands and Facebook communities focusing on street culture are also expanding. People are more open in exchanging knowledge with each other and and I think it’s amazing. If I were to compare it to London, I feel like our local scene is growing towards the right direction. It’s also interesting to observe how some Malaysians can creatively assemble their outfit together to fit a warm tropical climate compared to those from four-seasoned countries.”
Who are other “Hypebae” that you know/look up to?
“I would say Jennifer Bin, Christina Paik, Adrianne Ho, Atikah Karim (Malaysian), Ashley Lau(Malaysian), Tricia Goh (Singaporean), Hanya Seah (Singaporean).”
